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Image Credits:Izote Biosciences / Izote Biosciences team, from left, Jyothsna Ganesh, Javier Santana, Victor Manuel Reyes-Umaña, and Samuel Atwood
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Image Credits:Izote Biosciences / Izote Biosciences team, from left, Jyothsna Ganesh, Javier Santana, Victor Manuel Reyes-Umaña, and Samuel Atwood
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Usingprecision fermentationas a manufacturing process to make bio - based products like chemicals , medicines and evencultivated meatcontinues to be costly and not yet perfected for scalability .
The name Izote ( pronouncedee - zoh - tay ) was inspire by the national flower of El Salvador , where the kinfolk of Izote co - father and main engineering science officer Victor Manuel Reyes - Umaña , is from .
The technology was initially developed by Reyes - Umaña , who has a background in microbiology and fermentation , and Berkeley professor John Coates . He shape the company in 2022 and fetch on Samuel Atwood as co - father and CEO in February 2023 . Atwood ferment antecedently at McKinsey doing direction consulting .
Atwood explained that Izote ’s technology has its origin in celluloid biology , which is edit genomes of different organisms or compound to produce useful remark . For example , using bioengineering to create therapies or fresh drugs . It is also being used in the Department of Agriculture , food and chemical substance industries .
Precision fermentation ’s capability craze : Have we lose the game ?
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The party ’s applied science activate the fashioning of what Atwood call “ bio - based molecules ” for a issue of industries to give in depressed - cost , local feedstock . Izote is using fermentation as its method acting , but Atwood distinguish it as “ a step variety from the traditional fermentation process . ”
The traditional method uses microorganisms engineered to produce specific chemical compound . These require oxygen to respire . That means the entire system is designed around making certain the germ have unremitting access to the oxygen so they can survive . In turn , that find out what the bioreactor needs to reckon like , how prominent it should be and the equipment need .
“ The costs of this imposes and complicates your summons significantly , ” Atwood say . “ Our innovation uses an alternate speck to oxygen . It resembles salt , and it ’s about 100,000 times more soluble than O . Instead of pumping atmosphere and mixing your broth , our summons involve dissolving the salt into the medium , and your organisms will swim toward it . ”
In this path , bio processes utilizing Izote ’s anaerobic organism can wait to see over 70 % low capital expenditure and gross margins of 50 % to 100 % higher , he said . And customers just need a simpler bioreactor to get more predictable grading operation and an ability to draw out zymolysis runs longer , Atwood say .
Izote ’s first program will be in the fragrance and flavor industries , and the ship’s company is actively talking to large perfumeries . succeeding plans admit scaling the political program to activate the output of bio - based molecules across industries , like solid food and cosmetics .
Pow.bio says biomanufacturing is break down and its uninterrupted fermenting tech will prepare it
The company is working on a few projects for customers but is still in the pre - revenue stage . After receiving a modest amount of financial support last year , Reyes - Umaña and Atwood decided to go after extra speculation uppercase to work up a squad that could design and execute Izote ’s summons in a testing ground mount .
Embark Ventures and EGB Capital conduce the pre - seed round and were joined by Bee Partners , FTW Ventures , Nucleus Capital , Courtyard Ventures , Climate Capital Bio and Redstick Ventures . Bee Partners cover the company , Atwood said . It has raised $ 2.6 million in total .
It will take 18 months to distinguish what Izote ’s launching molecules will be and exhibit that the mote can be produced in the lab and at a productiveness of at least 50 % upright than anything currently on the market , Atwood say .
“ Over the course of study of the last 10 to 15 class , the great unwashed have get really worked up about synthetic biota and that you could make almost anything with micro-organism , ” Atwood said . “ However , we ’ve observed company start with the product and then assume the economic science would abide by . That ’s been a failure point for this diligence . rather , we ’re starting with a corpuscle , or a set of molecules , where we have a go at it from the start the political economy at scale are go to be competitive . Then we grow in that way . ”
investor salivate over solid food tech ship’s company hone preciseness fermentation
